A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematical and Computer Sciences and Engineering of the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology
The unsteady, laminar and two-dimensional pulsatile flow of both, Newtonian and non Newtonian chemically reacting blood in an axisymmetric stenosed artery subject to body ac celeration and magnetic fields were studied. In the case of non-Newtonian blood, heat transfer
was taken into consideration. The combined effects of body acceleration, magnetic fields and
chemical reaction on blood flow were considered. The non-Newtonian model was chosen to
suit the Herschel-Bulkley fluid characteristics.
The non-dimensional governing equations were solved using the explicit finite difference
method and executed using MATLAB package. The solutions showing the velocity, temper ature and concentration profiles were illustrated. The effects of Reynolds number, Hartman
number, Schmidt number, Eckert number and Peclet number were examined. Additionally, the
effects of stenosis and body acceleration on blood flow were explored.
The study found that, body acceleration, magnetic fields and stenosis affect the normal flow
of blood. Body acceleration was observed to have more effect on blood flow than the mag netic fields and stenosis. Furthermore, as the key findings of the study, it was noticed that the
combined effect of stenosis, body acceleration, magnetic field and chemical reaction, reduce
the concentration profile of the blood flow and the blood flow velocity. It was also observed
that, the axial velocity, concentration and skin friction, decrease with increasing stenotic height.
The velocity on the other hand increased as the body acceleration increased. Furthermore, as
the Hartman number increased, both the radial and axial velocities diminished. The higher the
chemical reaction parameter was, the lower were the concentration profiles.
For the non-Newtonian blood, the velocity profile diminished with increase in the Hartman
number and increased with the body acceleration. The temperature profile was observed to
rise by the increase of body acceleration and the Eckert number, while it diminished with the
increase of the Peclet number. It was also found that, the concentration profile increased with
the increase of the Soret number and decreased with the increase of the chemical reaction. It
was further observed that the shear stress deviated more when the power law index, n > 1 than
when n < 1.